Assemblyman Brian M. Kolb (R,C-Canandaigua) has been selected to be the Assembly minority representative to the Budget Conference Committee on Economic Development, where heíll serve as a negotiator in the state budget process.

"Economic development impacts all New Yorkers, but itís essential for residents of the Finger Lakes region and Central New York to ensure that economic development issues remain at the top of the stateís agenda," said Kolb. "Iím excited to be named to a committee that is truly important to our community."

Budget conference committees are bipartisan work groups from the Assembly and Senate that are charged with hammering out a state budget agreement between the two houses. The committees havenít met in recent years because negotiations over state budgets have regularly collapsed.

"As the April 1 deadline for an adopted state budget draws closer, Iím encouraged to see the formation of the conference committees Ė a move the Assembly minority conference has been pushing for some time. I truly hope that 2005 is the year we end the streak of late budgets, and I will work nonstop to see that it happens," Kolb concluded.